THE  CONVENTUAL 
LIFE 


RIGHT  REV.  BISHOP  ULLATHORNE 


New  York 
THE  PAULIST  PRESS 
401  West  59th  Street 


THE  CONVENTUAL 
LIFE 


Compiled  from  the  writings  of 

RT.  REV.  BISHOP  ULLATHORNE 


New  York 
THE  PAULIST  PRESS 
401  West  59th  Street 


Copyright,  1914,  by  "The  Missionary  Society 
St,  Paui.  the  Aposti^e  in  the  Statf 
OF  New  iToRK  ^ 


THE  CONVENTUAL  LIFE 


|]ROUND  the  Virgin  Mother  of  Christ  we  find 
a  group  of  devoted  women,  who  followed 
our  Lord  and  His  Apostles  throughout  their 
ministry.  They  stood  steadfast  to  Him  at 
His  crucifixion,  and  became  conspicuous  after  His  Resur- 
rection ;  and  they  received  the  Holy  Spirit  with  the  dis- 
ciples on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  In  order  to  explain  the 
origin  of  nuns  or  consecrated  virgins,  we  must  go  back 
to  this  period  of  the  Gospel. 

Our  Divine  Lord  extolled  the  life  of  virginity  as 
something  that  was  nearer  than  the  married  life  to  the 
kingdom  of  heaven — that  is  to  say,  as  something  holier 
and  more  perfectly  resembling  the  purity  of  God.  At 
the  conclusion  of  a  conversation  with  the  Pharisees 
touching  certain  difficulties  attached  to  marriage,  our 
Lord  said  that  in  heaven  there  will  be  neither  taking  or 
giving  in  marriage;  this  was  a  reply  to  the  Pharisees' 
objections,  but  the  other  side  of  His  words  struck  His 
disciples,  and  they  failed  not  to  see  that  the  virginal 
was  pointed  out  as  thd  celestial  life,  and  so,  with  both 
sides  of  the  remark  in  view,  they  put  the  question :  If 
the  case  of  a  man  with  his  wife  be  so,  it  is  not  expedient 
to  marry  ?  To  this  our  Lord  gave  the  final  response : 
"  All  men  take  not  this  word,  but  they  to  whom  it  is 
given.  There  are  those  who  have  made  themselves  un- 
marriageable  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  let  him  that  can 
take  it,  take  it.''  I  need  hardly  say  that  this  is  no  condem- 
nation of  marriage,  but  it  is  certainly  an  elevation  of  the 
virginal  above  the  married  state ;  that  is,  when  God  gives 


4 


The  Conventual  Life 


the  gift,  when  that  gift  is  freely  taken,  and  when  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  the  motive.  It  is  no  command; 
it  is  an  advice  to  those  who  wish  to  do  more  for  God's 
sake  than  He  has  commanded  us  to  do ;  all  take  not  this 
word,  let  him  take  it  who  can  take  it,  says  the  God  of 
truth. 

This  distinction  between  the  commandments  and  the 
counsels  of  Christ ;  between  what  He  gives  us  to  observe 
as  a  law,  binding  all  souls  and  binding  all  alike ;  and 
what,  on  the  other  hand,  He  only  advises,  and  advises 
to  those  especially  who  seek  the  more  perfect  way,  is 
the  groundwork  of  the  whole  distinction  between  the 
common  Christian  life  and  the  life  of  perfection.  It  is 
the  distinction,  in  its  principles,  between  the  man  who 
divides  his  life  betwixt  God  and  the  world,  and  the  man 
who  gives  his  whole  life  to  God.  It  is  also  the  founda- 
tion of  the  distinction  between  the  married  woman  and 
the  nun;  an  individual  married  woman  may  be  holier 
than  some  individual  nun,  but  the  state  of  the  nun  is 
holier  than  the  state  of  the  wife;  and  we  shall  presently 
see  that  St.  Paul  has  put  it  in  that  light.  Nowhere  is  this 
distinction  brought  out  more  clearly  than  in  our  Lord's 
conversation  with  that  young  man  who  had  many  pos- 
sessions. The  young  man  comes  to  Jesus  and  asks : 
Master,  what  good  shall  I  do  that  I  may  enter  into 
life  everlasting?  Jesus  answers  :  'Tf  thou  wilt  enter  into 
life,  keep  the  commandments."  The  youth  replies : 
"  All  these  I  have  kept  from  my  youth :  what  else  is 
wanting  to  me  ?  "  Jesus  looked  on  him,  loved  him,  and 
said :  "  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go  sell  what  thou  hast, 
and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in 
heaven:  and  come,  follow  Me"  (Matt.  xix.). 

This  youth  had  always  kept  the  commandments,  he 
had  done  all  that  the  Divine  Master  requires  for  gaining 
everlasting  life,  and  so  Jesus  looked  on  him  with  love; 


The  Conventual  Life 


5 


but  when  he  asks  what  is  still  wanting  to  make  him 
perfect,  then  he  is  told  to  give  all  he  has  in  the  world 
to  the  poor,  to  throw  in  his  lot  with  Christ,  and  to  live 
in  all  respects  as  our  Lord  Himself  lived — to  follow 
Him.  In  a  word,  he  was  to  live  like  the  monk  and  the 
nun,  in  poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience ;  and  if,  like  that 
young  man,  who  went  away  sad,  having  many  posses- 
sions, you  think  this  advice  hard  and  difficult,  our  Lord 
does  not  deny  it ;  He  says  to  His  disciples :  "  With  men 
this  is  impossible :  but  with  God  all  things  are  possible." 
Then  Peter  said  to  him :  Behold,  we  have  left  all 
things,  and  have  followed  Thee:  what  therefore  shall 
we  have  ?  and  Jesus  said  unto  them :  "  Amen,  I  say 
to  you,  every  one  that  hath  left  house,  or  wife,  or  lands 
for  My  name's  sake,  shall  receive  a  hundredfold,  and 
shall  possess  life  everlasting."  Here,  then,  is  the  apos- 
tolic life,  the  life  of  Christ  Himself,  the  perfect  life,  the 
life  also  of  the  monk  and  of  the  nun ;  and  what  greater 
or  more  magnificent  confirmation  of  it  could  we  wish 
to  have  than  that  vision  which  the  virginal  St.  John  saw 
in  the  Apocalypse,  of  those  one  hundred  and  forty-four 
thousand  virgins,  who  are  brought  from  amongst  men, 
and  whose  privilege  it  is  to  follow  the  Lamb  whither- 
soever He  goeth,"  and  to  sing  a  canticle  which  none  but 
they  can  repeat. 

In  his  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  St.  Paul  treats 
this  subject  professedly.  He  shows  that  the  virginal 
life  is  of  counsel,  not  of  command,  and  that  it  is  the  fruit 
of  a  special  gift.  Contrasting  it  with  marriage,  he  de- 
clares it  to  be  more  perfect,  not  for  all,  but  for  those 
who  have  certain  gifts,  dispositions,  and  qualifications — 
in  a  word,  who  have  a  vocation  to  this  state  of  life; 
and  mark  well  how  carefully  St.  Paul  gives  us  the  signs 
of  this  vocation :  "  He  that  hath  determined,  being  stead- 
fast in  his  hearty  having  no  necessity,  but  having  power 


6 


The  Conventual  Life 


of  his  own  ivill,  and  hath  judged  this  in  his  heart  to  keep 
liis  virgin,  doth  well/' 

It  is  for  the  purpose  of  testing  the  solidity  of  these 
five  qualities  that  so  long  a  probation  is  required  by 
the  Church,  before  anyone  is  allowed  to  bind  herself  to 
this  kind  of  life.  As  to  the  spiritual  advantages,  the 
sacred  motives,  and  the  peculiar  holiness  that  attach  to 
ll.e  Religious  as  contra-distinguished  from  the  secular 
life,  the  Apostle  is  very  clear.  He  says:  The  un- 
m.arried  woman  and  the  virgin  thinketh  on  the  things  of 
the  Lord,  that  she  may  be  holy  in  body  and  in  spirit. 
But  she  that  is  married  thinketh  on  the  things  of  the 
v.orld,  how  she  may  please  her  husband."  He  also  ob- 
serves that  the  married  are  "  divided,''  that  is,  given  in 
part  to  God,  in  part  to  the  world,  whilst  they  who  have 
consecrated  themselves  wholly  to  God  belong  to  Him 
without  division.  He  also  speaks  of  those  tribulations 
of  the  married  woman  from  which  the  unmarried  is  free. 
In  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  same  Corinthians,  the  great 
Apcstle  uses  a  remarkable  figure  of  speech,  which  would 
be  altogether  unmeaning  were  it  not  based  upon  a  fact 
with  which  both  he  and  they  were  already  familiar.  He 
compares  the  union  of  the  Church  of  Corinth  with  God 
to  the  spiritual  marriage  between  Christ  and  a  virgin. 
He  says:  "I  am  jealous  of  you  with  the  jealousy  of 
God.  For  I  have  espoused  you  to  one  husband,  a  chaste 
virgin  unto  Christ."  It  is  impossible  for  anyone,  who 
is  not  wilfully  blind,  to  close  his  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the 
life  of  the  nun  rests  upon  the  higher  teaching  of  the 
Gospel,  as  well  as  upon  the  most  sacred  examples.  If, 
however,  this  life  began  in  the  Apostolic  times,  we  should 
naturally  expect  to  find  some  indication  of  it  in  the  Acts 
rf  the  Apostles,  and  accordingly  in  that  record  we  find 
that,  when  St.  Paul  and  St.  Luke  came  to  Caesarea,  St. 
Luke  says :      Entering  into  the  house  of  Philip  the 


The  Conventual  Life 


7 


Evangelist,  who  was  one  of  the  seven,  we  abode  with  him. 
And  he  had  four  daughters,  virgins,  who  did  prophesy." 

Until  the  Emperor  Constantine  gave  civil  freedom  and 
protection  to  Christianity,  it  is  obvious  that  nuns  could 
not  have  lived  in  safety  in  Religious  conmmunities.  Dur- 
ing the  first  three  centuries  they  dwelt  with  their  rela- 
tives, secluded  in  the  female  departments  from  general 
society.  Writing  about  the  end  of  the  second  century, 
Tertullian  says  of  them :  They  prefer  holiness  to  hus- 
bands, they  choose  their  espousals  with  God,  they  love 
to  be  God's  handmaids,  and  to  be  only  beautiful  in  His 
eyes,  conversing  with  Him  night  and  day,  and  giving  Him 
their  prayers  for  dowries''  (Tertidl.  ad  Uxorem),  And 
in  his  w^ork  on  the  Veiling  of  Virgins,  he  denounces 
those  hands  as  guilty  of  sacrilege  that  should  remove  the 
veil  in  which  they  are  consecrated  to  God.  The  great 
Bishop  and  Martyr,  Cyprian,  wrote  a  complete  treatise, 
addressed  to  these  sacred  virgins,  in  which,  amongst 
other  things,  he  says :  "  Now  do  we  turn  our  discourse 
to  the  virgins,  over  whom  our  care  is  all  the  greater  as 
their  glory  is  the  more  sublime.  They  are  the  flower 
of  the  Church's  field,  the  charm  and  ornament  of  spiritual 
grace,  a  joyous  condition  of  life,  a  perfect  and  inviolate 
work  of  praise  and  honor,  an  image  of  God  that  corre- 
sponds with  the  sanctity  of  Christ,  the  more  illustrious 
portion  of  Christ's  flock.  In  them  doth  rejoice,  in  them 
doth  richly  flourish,  the  glorious  fruitfulness  of  Mother 
Church ;  and  as  her  virgins  grow  more  numerous,  so 
growls  the  Mother's  joy."  Let  me  add  another  passage 
from  St.  Cyprian's  book,  if  it  be  only  to  show  on  what 
lofty  ground  this  profession  is  placed  by  the  early  teach- 
ing of  the  Church.  The  holy  martyr  says  to  the  con- 
secrated virgins  of  his  Church :  No  husband  is  over 
you,  but  your  Lord  and  Head  is  Christ;  your  lot  and 
condition  is  the  same  as  His  What  we  are  all  to 


8 


The  Conventual  Life 


become,  lliat  you  have  l)egun  to  be.  Tlie  glory  of  the 
resurrection  you  possess  ahxady :  you  are  passing 
through  life  without  life's  contagion.  In  persevering  in 
chastity  and  virginity,  you  are  equal  to  the  angels  of 
God,  only  let  that  profession  remain  and  abide  perfect 
and  inviolate  The  first  commandment  was  to  in- 
crease and  multiply;  the  second  enjoined  continency. 
Now  that  the  earth  abounds  and  the  world  is  full,  they 
who  are  able  accept  continency,  living  the  unmarried  life, 
and  are  separated  unto  the  kingdom.  The  Lord  does  not 
enforce  this,  but  He  exhorts  it,  not  imposing  a  yoke  of 
necessity  in  that  the  choice  remains  free.  Still,  when  He 
tells  us  that  within  His  Father's  house  are  many  man- 
sions. He  guides  us  to  seek  a  home  in  the  best  of  them. 

 The  sanctity  and  truth  of  the  second  birth  are 

found  more  fully  in  you,  who  have  ceased  from  the  de- 
sires of  the  flesh  and  the  body  'As  we  have  borne 

the  image  of  him  that  is  earthly,'  says  the  Apostle,  '  let 
us  also  bear  the  image  of  the  Heavenly  One.'  This 
image  virginity  bears,  perfectness  bears  it,  holiness  and 
truth  bear  it,  rules  of  discipline  bear  it  which  keep  God  in 
thought,  which  maintain  righteousness  and  religiousness, 
are  stable  in  faith,  lowly  in  fear,  strong  to  all  endurance, 
meek  to  suflfer  injury,  swift  in  exercising  pity,  uniting 
heart  and  mind  in  brotherly  love.  All  these  things  it  is 
your  duty,  O  virgins,  to  regard,  to  love,  to  fulfill,  who, 
giving  your  time  to  God  and  Christ,  are  already  advanc- 
ing forward  unto  the  Lord,  to  Whom  you  have  dedicated 
yourselves,  in  the  higher  and  better  way."  Such  was  the 
language  addressed  by  bishops  to  nuns  in  the  middle  of 
the  third  century  after  Christ. 

No  sooner  had  the  imperial  power  become  the  protec- 
tor of  Christianity,  and  the  nuns  felt  that  they  could  leave 
their  paternal  home  with  safety,  than  they  began  to 
gather  into  communities,  and  to  live  in  monasteries  or 


The  Conventual  Life 


9 


convents,  under  the  authority  of  one  of  their  number 
called  Abbess,  or  Mother ;  and  their  rules  of  life  became 
a  matter  of  the  most  careful  legislation.  It  was  in  the 
beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  in  Egypt,  under  the  great 
St.  Antony,  that  the  Ascetics  first  gathered  into  monas- 
teries of  women  as  well  as  of  men,  and  the  first  convent 
of  nuns  was  ruled  by  St.  Antony's  sister.  His  famous 
disciple  St.  Pachomius,  the  first  who  wrote  a  Rule  that 
remains  to  this  day,  established  a  convent  also  under  his 
sister's  directions.  It  was  through  the  influence  of  the 
great  St.  Athanasius,  during  his  visits  to  Rome,  that  the 
conventual  system  first  arose  in  the  capital  of  Christen- 
dom, and  St.  Jerome  gave  it  a  more  complete  develop- 
ment. I  have  noticed  that  the  two  first  founders  of  con- 
ventual life  placed  their  female  monasteries  under  the 
care  of  their  sisters,  but  it  is  remarkable  that  all  the  great 
founders  of  religious  rules  down  to  the  sixth  century  did 
the  same.  St.  Basil,  the  great  founder  of  Eastern  monas- 
ticism,  whose  Rule  alone  prevails  even  to  this  day  in  the 
Greek  Church,  founded  his  nuns  under  his  sister  St. 
Marina ;  St.  Ambrose  founded  his  at  Milan  under  his 
sister  St.  Marcellina;  St.  Augustine,  whose  famous  Rule 
was  written  expressly  for  his  nuns,  founded  them  under 
the  direction  of  his  sister ;  and  St.  Benedict,  the  Patriarch 
of  Western  monachism,  placed  his  nuns  under  his  sister 
St.  Scholastica.  If  St.  Gregory  the  Great  had  not  the 
aid  of  a  sister,  he  had  the  experience  of  three  aunts,  who 
were  nuns,  to  aid  him  in  regulating  his  convents. 
It  is  obvious  that  this  cooperation  of  brother  and 
sister  in  the  founding  of  the  chief  conventual  Rules 
and  Institutions  was  a  providential  arrangement  of  great 
importance ;  for  their  great  intimacy  of  soul  enabled  them 
to  unite  the  founder's  wisdom  with  the  foundress'  ex- 
perience of  her  sex  and  its  requirements  in  the  most 
effectual  way  for  the  final  benefit  of  the  Order. 


lO 


Ihc  Conz'cntual  Life 


In  the  family,  authority,  obedience,  and  liberty  are  to 
be  found  in  their  happiest  combination.  Yet  that  charm 
of  freedom  which  so  happily  pervades  a  well-ordered 
family  must  be  confessed  to  depend  for  its  preservation 
upon  the  authority  which  rules,  and  the  obedience  which 
cheerfully  responds  to  rule.  Then  there  is  the  element 
which  more  than  others  nourishes  unity  and  freedom, 
and  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  community  life,  resting  as  it 
does  upon  a  property  which,  though  administered  by  the 
head,  is  for  the  common  benefit  of  all.  To  this  must  we 
add  community  of  thought,  feeling,  and  aim.  And  if  to 
the  natural  and  acquired  accomplishments  of  that  family 
be  added  the  Christian  graces  and  virtues,  if  to  the  family 
affection  be  added  Christian  love,  then  have  we  the 
happiest  conditions  of  human  freedom,  and  the  most 
delightful  society  of  which  the  world  has  any  experience. 
The  ties  of  mind  enhance  the  ties  of  blood,  and  the  ties 
of  blood  give  vigor  to  the  ties  of  affection.  And  each 
family  has  its  marked  individuality,  an  individuality  of 
character  that  flows  from  its  moral  qualities,  and  in  which 
it  differs  from  others  families,  as  face  differs  from  face, 
mind  from  mind,  and  heart  from  heart.  One  thing  more, 
however,  is  needed,  which  we  cannot  overlook  with 
safety.  That  spirit,  essence,  air,  tone,  aroma,  call  it  what 
you  will,  for  it  is  the  undefinable  charm  that  breathes 
through  the  interior  family  circle,  depends  entirely  for 
its  growth  and  conservation  upon  the  sacred  privacy  of 
home.  Nothing  foreign  or  uncongenial  to  it  can  enter 
within  the  domestic  circle ;  all  that  is  relegated  to  one  or 
two  reception-rooms  or  parlors.  The  seclusion  of  the 
family  precincts,  the  right  of  a  domestic  retreat  where  no 
one  has  power  to  intrude,  the  sacred  privacies  of  home, 
the  inviolable  security  of  the  threshold,  amidst  the 
crowded  dwellings  of  our  towns  even  as  in  the  tents 
of  the  d  s-^rt,  these  are  amongst  the  rights  of  humanity 


The  Conventual  Life 


II 


on  which  are  based  both  the  freedom  of  the  family  and 
the  securities  of  pubhc  Hberty. 

In  drawing  this  description  of  the  family,  I  feel  that 
I  have  given  you  the  accurate  delineation  of  a  convent, 
and  that  there  is  not  a  single  point  in  which  the  resem- 
blance fails.  So  true  is  this,  that  the  Church  calls  her 
religious  communities  religious  families. 

It  may  be  said,  after  admitting  the  general  resemblance 
between  the  convent  and  the  family,  that  in  two  points  at 
least  the  resemblance  fails,  and  that  these  make  all  the 
difference,  and  these  are  the  strong  ties  of  blood  and  the 
influence  arising  from  the  gradual  growth  of  a  family 
beneath  the  parental  care.  Yet  even  here,^  I  do  not 
hesitate  in  saying  that  the  religious  family  presents  strong 
analogies  with  these  elements  of  domestic  union.  To  un- 
derstand this,  however,  requires  you  to  realize  the  devout 
Catholic's  depth  of  feeling  respecting  the  Real  Presence 
of  Christ  on  the  Altar,  as  being  the  very  heart  and  centre 
of  conventual  life;  and  the  almost  daily  reception  of 
Christ's  Body  and  Blood  by  the  members  of  that  family,  as 
being  the  very  closest  of  their  ties  of  union  with  each  other, 
as  well  as  with  God.  You  must  understand  the  force  de- 
rived from  the  veritable  Blood  of  Christ  flowing  into 
breasts  united  daily  for  its  reception,  and  the  veritable 
unity  as  of  a  divine  consanguinity  resulting  therefrom, 
to  comprehend  the  force  of  the  Catholic  Mystery  upon 
pure  and  innocent  hearts.  As  to  the  second  point,  the  in- 
fluence derived  from  growth  beneath  parental  care,  this 
also  has  its  striking  analogy  in  the  conventual  life.  But 
of  this  more  fully  when  we  come  to  speak  of  the  novi- 
tiate ;  suffice  it  here  to  observe  that  a  community,  like  a 
family,  is  gradually  recruited  from  youthful  members, 
trained  to  their  new  life  under  a  care  that  is  singularly 
maternal,  and  this  gives  growth  to  the  closest  filial  af- 
fection. 


12 


The  Conventual  Life 


The  first  of  all  religious  communities  was  that  of  our 
Lord  Himself  and  His  twelve  Apostles.  At  His  invita- 
tion they  left  all  things  to  follow  Him,  they  obeyed  His 
voice,  and  they  had  all  things  in  common.  The  second 
community  sprang  out  of  the  first :  it  was  the  Christian 
Church  of  Jerusalem.  After  the  Ascension,  the  Apostles 
are  described  as  in  the  upper  room  where  they  abode,  all 
these  were  persevering  in  one  mind  in  prayer  with  the 
women,  and  Mary  the  Mother  of  Jesus,  and  with  His 
brethren."  Even  after  the  Pentecost  this  community  life 
continues,  and  is  the  normal  state  of  the  Church  in  Jeru- 
salem. First,  all  the  members  of  this  Christian  society  are 
"  baptized  into  one  spirit."  Secondly,  by  a  new  kind  of 
consanguinity,  they  are  able  to  say :  *'We  being  many,  are 
one  bread,  one  body,  all  who  partake  of  one  bread."  For 

the  cup  of  blessing,  w^hich  we  bless,  is  it  not  the  com- 
munion of  the  Blood  of  Christ?  And  the  bread  which 
we  break,  is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  Body  of  Christ?" 
(i  Cor.  X.  i6,  17.)  The  third  principle  of  their  unity  is 
their  subjection  to  the  Apostles.  The  fourth  is  the  re- 
nunciation of  their  private  property  for  the  general  sup- 
port of  the  community.  Let  us  hear  St.  Luke's  descrip- 
tion of  this  religious  family,  now  that  it  has  reached  the 
number  of  three  thousand  souls :  And  they  were  per- 
severing in  the  doctrine  of  the  Apostles,  and  in  the  com- 
munication of  the  breaking  of  bread,  and  in  prayer. 

 And  all  they  that  believed  were  together,  and  they 

had  all  things  in  common.  They  sold  their  possessions 
and  goods,  and  distributed  them  to  all  according  as  every 
one  had  need.  And  daily  persevering  with  one  accord  in 
the  Temple,  and  breaking  bread  in  the  houses,  they  took 
their  food  with  gladness  and  simplicity  of  heart,  praising 
God,  and  having  favor  with  all  the  people"  (Acts  ii. 
42-46).  After  this  community  has  expanded  into  five 
thousand  souls,  St.  Luke  says :     This  multitude  of  be- 


The  Comrntual  Life 


13 


lievers  had  one  heart  and  one  soul ;  neither  did  any  one 
say  that  aught  of  the  things  he  possessed  was  his  own, 

but  all  things  were  common  to  them  And  great 

grace  was  in  them  all.  For  neither  was  any  one  among 
them  needy;  for  as  many  as  were  owners  of  land  or 
houses  sold  them,  and  brought  the  prices  of  the  things 
they  sold  and  laid  them  down  at  the  feet  of  the  i^postles ; 
and  distribution  was  made  to  every  one  according*  as  he 
had  need  "  (Acts  iv.  33-35). 

Translate  these  inspired  descriptions  from  a  mixed 
community  of  the  two  sexes  to  a  community  of  women 
under  one  roof,  and,  word  for  word,  you  have  the  ac- 
curate delineation  of  conventual  life ;  so  accurate,  indeed, 
that  most  of  St.  Luke's  words  are  repeated  in  the  monas- 
tic Rules. 

The  spirit  of  conventual  life  is  a  spirit  of  freedom. 
No  one  can  set  up  a  convent  at  will,  or  as  a  matter  of 
speculation,  or  an  act  of  caprice.  It  must  be  the  work 
of  ecclesiastical  authority.  The  convent  must  belong  to 
some  approved  Order,  whose  principles  and  rules  have 
had  the  test  of  experience.  For  whenever  a  new  Order 
arises,  the  Church  is  slow  and  cautious  in  giving  it  ap- 
proval. It  experimentalizes ;  has  no  other  authority  at 
first  but  that  of  the  local  bishop ;  feels  its  way,  corrects  its 
first  essays  by  further  experience,  and  m.eanwhile  it  is  not 
considered  as  an  Order  but  as  a  mere  essay.  Its  vows 
are  not  Religious,  or  public,  but  only  private  vows,  like 
those  of  any  private  person.  The  attempt  fails ;  or  per- 
haps the  new  Institute  succeeds  and  proves  its  value ; 
shows  it  can  stand,  and  do  its  work,  and  secure  the  happi- 
ness of  its  members.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  the  highest 
authority  in  the  Church  takes  it  in  hand  for  examination. 
Before  its  approval  can  be  accorded,  the  constitution  and 
rules  are  put  into  the  hands  of  the  ablest  experts,  are 
passed  from  them  to  a  congregation  of  cardinals,  the 


The  Conventual  Life 


wisest  and  most  learned  in  such  matters,  and  after 
l)eing  corrected  by  searching  tests,  it  receives  the  final 
sanction  and  becomes  part  of  the  Church's  religious 
law. 

There  are  not  above  half  a  dozen  Rules  distinct  from 
each  other  in  their  fundamental  conditions  throughout  the 
whole  Western  Church.  All  the  rest  are  but  modifica- 
tions based  upon  the  principles  of  one  or  more  of  these. 
The  East  has  one  Rule  only  for  both  sexes,  that  of  St. 
Basil.  The  various  Orders  of  the  Church  ^re  rather  like 
the  dififerent  arms  of  one  service,  each  equipped  and 
trained  for  its  special  work,  whilst  all  are  under  one 
general  command.  The  spiritual  basis  of  each  Rule  is 
drawn  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  to  this  is  added 
a  system  of  internal  government,  and  a  body  of  regula- 
tions directing  the  life  and  occupations  of  the  members. 
The.  interpretation  of  this  Rule  lives  in  the  traditions  and 
observances  of  the  convent,  and  in  the  practical  good 
sense  of  the  community.  Should  a  difficulty  arise  on  any 
point,  other  houses  of  the  same  Order  are  consulted,  and 
r  especially  the  more  ancient  and  authoritative  of  them. 
And  there  is  always  a  final  appeal  to  the  higher  authori- 
ties, when  the  common  law  of  the  Church  is  brought  to 
throw  light  upon  the  local  law. 

Every  convent  must  have  its  Rule,  the  Rule  of  the 
Order  to  which  it  belongs,  and  that  Rule  must  be  fixed  in 
writing.  It  is  printed,  and  each  nun  has  a  copy  of  it. 
This  Rule  lays  down  with  the  utmost  exactness  how  far 
the  authority  of  the  superior  goes,  and  where  it  stops  and 
can  go  no  further.  The  sphere  of  each  subordinate 
official  is  marked  out  with  equal  precision.  The  choral 
duties,  community  observances,  the  duties  and  employ- 
ments which  they  undertake,  the  general  distribution  of 
time,  everything,  even  to  the  general  character  of  the 
clothing  and  food,  is  regulated  and  provided  for  in  the 


The  Conventual  Life 


15 


Rule.  The  Rule  is,  in  fact,  the  superior  of  the  superior, 
who  has  simply  to  obey  its  directions.  She  is  the  execu- 
tive of  the  Rule,  and  her  life  is  as  much  a  life  of  obedi- 
ence to  its  dictates  as  that  of  her  subjects.  "  Let  all  obey 
the  Rule  as  their  mistress,''  is  a  conventual  maxim  as  old 
as  the  days  of  St.  Benedict.  Of  the  sense  of  the  Rule 
the  good  customs  and  living  traditions  of  the  house  and 
of  the  Order  are  the  interpreters.  Should  a  perplexity 
arise,  there  is  the  ecclesiastical  authority  to  apply  to,  and 
that  authority  has  the  common  law  of  the  Church  and  its 
wide  experience  ready  to  enlighten  the  difficulty  and  make 
all  clear. 

Now  it  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  conventual  life, 
which  allows  of  no  exception,  that  no  nun  is  bound  to 
an  obedience  beyond  what  is  prescribed  in  the  Rule.  The 
very  terms  of  her  vow  include  this  qualifying  clause :  "  I 
vow  obedience  according  to  the  Rule."  And  the  Rule 
to  whose  terms  she  limits  the  obligation  of  her  obedience 
is  that  very  Rule  which  she  has  been  reading,  studying, 
hearing  explained,  and  seeing  put  in  practice  for  years 
before  she  takes  her  vow.  Were  a  superior  to  lift  her 
little  finger  beyond  the  Rule  it  would  be  tyranny,  not 
authority,  and  means  would  soon  be  found  to  regulate 
the  exercise  of  her  authority.  For  nuns  are  great  consti- 
tutionalists, they  are  thoroughly  conversant  with  their 
rights  and  liberties  as  well  as  with  their  duties.  They  are 
in  the  habit  of  exercising  their  individual  judgments  com- 
pletely as  to  the  condition  of  their  whole  little  common- 
wealth on  the  occasion  of  elections  and  of  visitations,  and 
that  not  as  matter  of  choice  but  of  duty.  And  they  have 
their  right  of  appeal  not  only  to  the  Episcopal,  but  even 
to  the  very  highest  authority  of  the  Church. 

Nuns  enjoy  self-government,  and  the  principles  upon 
which  their  government  rests,  and  has  flourished  for 
the  last  five  hundred  years  and  more,  are  the  three  points 


i6 


The  Conventual  Life 


of  the  charter — universal  suffrage,  vote  by  ballot,^  and 
triennial  elections.  The  first  two  points  of  universal  suf- 
frage and  the  ballot  date  from  the  earliest  beginnings  of 
conventual  life  in  the  fourth  century ;  the  third  point,  that 
of  triennial  elections,  began  with  the  popular  Mendicant 
Orders  of  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  has 
extended  to  all  the  rest.  The  members  prepare  for  their 
decision  by  days  of  prayer,  approach  to  the  considera- 
tion of  it  as  to  a  most  solemn  and  sacred  responsibility, 
and  each  Sister  gives  her  silent  vote  for  that  member 
of  the  community  whom,  in  her  conscience,  she 
believes  the  fittest  of  them  all  to  promote  the  general 
welfare. 

Those  who  govern  are  the  elect  of  these  highly-trained 
women.  I  may  seem  to  be  speaking  of  an  Utopia ;  but 
that  is  my  very  difificulty,  that,  compared  with  any  other 
form  of  society,  a  well-ordered  convent  is  an  Utopia — it 
is  a  mode  of  social  life  more  complete  and  excellent  in  its 
nature  than  the  world's  experience  can  imagine  to  be 
practicable  or  possible.  But  then,  as  I '  have  said,  this 
mode  of  life  requires  a  very  peculiar  preparation.  A 
woman  has  a  great  deal  to  do  and  a  great  deal  to  undo, 
much  to  learn  and  unlearn,  before  she  can  be  transformed 
into  a  nun.    This  work  is  done  in  the  novitiate. 

The  novitiate  is  the  period  of  probation,  and' the  length 
of  time  required  for  it  is  prescribed  by  the  Rule.  During 
this  period  of  probation  no  obligation  can  be  taken. 
Whoever  is  but  a  novice  may  leave  the  convent  any  mo- 
ment, or.be  sent  away  at  any  moment.  The  novitiate  is 
itself  preceded  by  a  preliminary  probation  called  the  pos- 
tulate. Not  unfrequently  this  first  step  is  the  last.  The 
postulant  finds  the  state  unsuited  to  her,  or  the  community 

^The  rule  of  many  of  the  more  modern  reli:^ions  communis i^s 
does  not  include  this  feature  of  a  general  ballot  ;  in  the  matter 
of  suffrage  and  duration  of  office  also  one  differs  from  another* 


The  Conventual  Life 


17 


find  her  to  be  unsuited  to  the  state,  and  so  she  leaves  the 
convent. 

Piety  alone  will  not  make  a  nun.  Nor  if  a  person  is  in 
the  habit  of  praying  all  day  long,  will  that  prove  her 
qualification.  It  is  proverbial  amongst  Catholics  that  it 
is  the  lively,  sociable  girls  of  a  family  who  go  to  convents, 
and  who  stay  there.  A  lonely  and  isolated  spirit  is  ab- 
solutely disqualified.  Whoever  is  close-minded,  or  of  a 
stiff  or  formal  habit,  or  of  a  self-asserting  disposition,  or 
inclined  to  mope,  or  to  brood  within  herself,  or  is  twisted 
to  singularity,  whoever  is  disfavored  by  one  or  more  of 
these  characteristics  has  no  hope  or  likelihood  of  ever 
becoming  a  nun,  even  though  she  enter  a  convent ;  unless 
it  be  that  her  defect  is  merely  on  the  surface,  and  is  found 
to  be  removable  through  the  discipline  of  the  novitiate. 
Neither  is  the  sacred  interior  of  the  convent  a  place  for  the 
bitterness  or  the  sadness  which  spring  from  defeats  en- 
countered in  the  world.  It  is  no  home  for  any  form  of 
egotism,  not  even  the  egotism  of  sorrow.  God,  and  God 
alone,  must  be  the  one  great  object  of  thought  and  affec- 
tion within  those  hallowed  precincts.  And  the  true  serv- 
ice of  God  is  cheerful,  generous,  and  forgetful  of  self, 
If  the  postulant  goes  well  through  her  six  months  as  a 
-^petitioner,  if  her  mistress,  and  the  superior  and  the  coun- 
cil are  satisfied  with  her,  the  question  is  put  to  the  votes 
of  the  community,  whether  they  will  admit  her  to  the 
novitiate.  If  the  votes  of  the  community  prove  favorable, 
the  fact  is  submitted  to  the  bishop.  He  then,  by  himself 
or  by  deputy,  examines  into  her  dispositions.  If  the  ex- 
amination prove  satisfactory,  a  day  is  appointed  for  the 
ceremonial,  the  postulant  receives  the  habit  of  the  Order, 
is  invested  with  the  white  veil,  and  becomes  a  novice. 
The  real  probation  now  begins.  It  is  a  maxim  of  the 
novitiate,  dating  from  the  time  of  St.  Benedict  and 
earlier,  that  a  novice  must  be  tried  in  all  the  practices 


i8 


The  Conventual  Life 


of  the  Order  with  greater  strictness  than  is  required  of  the 
community.  Procdicentnr  ei  omnia  dura  ct  aspera,  let 
all  that  is  hardest  and  sharpest  on  this  path  to  God  be 
plainly  foreshown  to  her — such  is  the  monastic  Rule. 
Whilst  thus  trained  and  tried  in  external  works,  for  their 
internal  formation,  the  novices  pass  through  a  complete 
course  of  ascetic  and  spiritual  instruction,  are  made  ac- 
quainted with  the  Rule  and  constitutions,  and  are  in- 
formed in  all  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  Order. 

But  there  is  an  art  and  skill  of  training  demanded  of 
the  novice  mistress  which  is  of  incalculably  greater  im- 
portance than  any  formal  instructions.  This  demands  a 
clear  insight  into  the  dispositions  ana  workmgs  of  souls, 
great  patience  and  self-command,  a  kind  and  sympathiz- 
ing spirit,  combined  with  firmness  and  decision,  great 
tact,  and  judgment  to  use  the  happy  moment  for  action 
when  it  comes,  and  to  turn  it  to  the  best  advantage. 
Hence  the  selecting  of  a  novice  mistress  who  happily 
unites  the  felicitous  qualities  of  her  office  is  som'etimes 
more  difficult  than  the  finding  of  a  suitable  superior.  The 
novitiate  has  to  work  a  transformation  of  the  character, 
and  that  is  a  work  of  much  greater  difficulty  to  accom- 
plish in  some  characters  than  in  others.  Here  the  right 
spirit,  the  spirit  that  can  be  moulded,  is  that  to  which 
our  Blessed  Lord  points  when  He  says,  Unless  you  be- 
come as  little  children,  you  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  God."  Nor,  in  fact,  can  the  kingdom  of  God  enter 
into  you.  You  cannot  shape  and  fashion  where  the  m.a- 
terial  responds  not  freely  to  your  hand,  and  to  under- 
stand is  to  stand  under ;  it  implies  the  child's  humility. 

Everyone  has  some  defect  which,  to  others,  and  es- 
pecially to  those  of  a  higher  standing  than  ourselves,  is 
visible,  even  palpable,  while  from  ourselves  it  is  alto- 
gether concealed.  Could  we  but  see  this  defect,  and  get 
a  conscious  hold  of  it,  we  should  at  once  correct  it, 


The  Conventual  Life 


19 


and  that  with  a  sense  of  confusion  and  a  feeling  of  shame. 
It  may  be  something  in  one's  outward  manner  or  speech ; 
it  may  go  deeper  into  the  mind  or  heart ;  it  may  arise  from 
some  grave  deficiency  in  responding  to  God's  grace ;  it 
may  be  a  want  of  openness  or  of  simplicity ;  it  may  be  a 
deficiency  of  generosity  or  a  want  of  sweetness.  Irasci- 
bility of  temper  may  be  the  cause,  or  impatience  and 
shortness  of  self-control ;  or  a  too  scrupulous  and  minute 
way  of  viewing  things  may  be  sapping  cheerfulness  and 
frittering  away  the  soul's  freedom.  It  may  be  a  disposi- 
tion inclining  to  excess  of  self-introspection  or  of  self- 
consciousness.  Or  this  defect  may  be  found  in  an  amount 
♦  of  self-conceit,  or  of  human  respect,  that  is  destructive 
to  all  genuine  simplicity  and  frankness.  Whatever  this 
defect  failing  from  the  standard  of  the  religious  life  may 
be,  the  essential  work  of  the  novitiate  is  to  bring  it  out  to 
the  surface  and  home  to  the  consciousness  of  its  posses- 
sor, so  that  it  can  be  freely  dealt  with,  and  removed  out 
of  the  system.  First,  great  freedom  is  encouraged,  that 
defects  may  come  out  as  well  as  excellencies ;  then  by  be- 
ing crossed  and  exaggerated  they  are  brought  home  to  the 
conscience;  then  dislike  of  them  arises  and  a  desire  to 
get  rid  of  them,  and  so  the  help  of  the  mistress  is  solic- 
ited. Degrees  of  victory  give  courage ;  as  obstacles 
yield  to  tact  or  to  effort  a  new  spirit  is  evolved ;  and, 
finally,  a  new  habit  supersedes  the  old,  and  habit  makes 
that  easy  and  delightful  which  at  first  was  laborious  and 
difficult. 

Those  who  successfully  complete  their  novitiate  gain  a 
transformation  of  character  w^hich  to  their  friends  often 
seems  inexplicable.  They  are  other,  yet  the  same.  What 
before  was  strong  and  beautiful  is  still  more  strong  and 
beautiful ;  but  there  is  added  a  lucidity  of  mind,  a  gentle- 
ness of  bearing,  a  forgetfulness  of  self,  and  a  thought  for 
others  which  reveals  the  genuine  spirit  of  the  convent,  and 


20 


The  Conventual  Life 


exhibits  the  graces  of  reHgious  vocation  with  a  felicity  of 
which  only  the  possessor  is  unconscious.  Of  course  there 
are  diversities  in  "convents  as  in  the  world,  and  some  ap- 
proach nearer  than  others  to  the  type  of  conventual  ex- 
cellence ;  but  no  one  can  be  professed  who  has  not  a  fair 
share  of  the  religious  gifts  and  a  fair  promise  of  growth 
to  more. 

During  the  postulate  or  novitiate  no  one  can  bind  her- 
self by  any  obligation.  If  such  a  one  be  possessed  of 
property  she  cannot  dispose  of  it,  or  any  part  of  it,  in 
order  that  at  any  moment  she  may  be  as  free  to  leave, 
and  to  leave  in  as  good  estate  as  when  she  entered. 
Within  two  months  of  the  expiring  of  her  probation  the  * 
novice  can  petition  to  be  admitted  to  the  vows,  although 
were  those  vows  actually  made  even  an  hour  before  the 
canonical  period  of  probation  was  completed,  the  pro- 
fession would  be  invalid  and  of  no  effect.  Two  months, 
however,  before  that  time,  if  superiors  are  satisfied,  her 
petition  is  submitted  to  the  secret  votes  of  the  community, 
and  if  these  are  in  her  favor,  the  bishop  makes  the  ca- 
nonical examination  into  the  mind  and  disposition  of  the 
novice.  He  ascertains  whether  external  influences  have 
acted  upon  her,  or  whether  she  is  acting  of  her  own  free 
and  spontaneous  attraction,  is  led  by  supernatural  mo- 
tives, and  has  the  true  spirit  of  her  state.  Unless  all 
things  concur  favorably,  there  may  be  a  further  delay  of 
some  months,  but  if  they  concur  to  her  advantage,  at  the 
termination  of  her  novitiate  the  novice  makes  her  public 
and  solemn  vows  in  face  of  the  Church,  and  exchanges 
the  white  for  the  black  veil. 

But  even  now,  although  a  full  member  of  the  com- 
munity, the  young  nun  has  not  completed  her  training. 
As  a  junior  she  enters  the  juniorate  departrgent  of  the 
convent  for  a  period  of  three  years,  and  only  after  that 
term  does  she  join  the  general  community  as  a  nun  com- 


The  Conventual  Life 


21 


pletely  formed.  The  actual  policy  of  the  Church  in  this 
age  is  to  limit  the  vows  of  the  juniors  to  the  term  of  their 
three  years  of  juniorate,  and  only  allow  the  perpetual 
vows  to  be  taken  after  those  three  years  are  concluded. 
This  gives  some  five  years  and  a  half  of  probation  and 
training  before  a  sister  binds  herself  for  life. 

I  have  exhibited  the  constitutional  character  of  con- 
ventual government.  I  have  entered  into  some  details 
for  the  purpose  of  making  this  constitutional  government 
more  intelligible.  I  have  likewise  shown  you  with  how 
much  caution  the  Church  sets  its  conditions  and  limits  to  a 
nun's  obligations  of  obedience,  and  I  might  have  added 
the  important  observation  that  the  Rule,  or  some  con- 
stitutional declaration  upon  the  Rule,  lays  down  the 
maxim  that  nothing  prescribed  by  the  Rule,  unless  on  the 
ground  of  some  other  law,  such  as  the  divine  law,  is 
binding  under  sin.  It  is  a  fault,  an  imperfection,  an  of- 
fence against  order  and  rules,  a  something  to  be  cor- 
rected, but  it  is  not  a  crime.  I  have  also  shown  you 
something  of  that  great  care  and  almost  incredible  precau- 
tion which  guards  against  the  possibility  of  binding  a  nun 
to  her  state  of  life  before  she  thoroughly  knows  what  she 
is  doing,  and  how  far  she  is  competent  for  the  life  in 
which  she  engages.  And  here  again  I  might  have  added 
that  it  is  of  the  very  gravest  concern  to  a  community  that 
every  means  should  be  taken  to  prevent  the  possibility  of 
its  becoming  engaged  for  life  to  one  w^ho  has  not  i^s 
spirit,  and  cannot  concur  in  promoting  the  general  sense 
of  happiness.  And  hence  in  voting  for  a  new  member, 
it  is  a  maxim,  in  the  case  of  doubt,  to  vote  against  the 
person.  Not  only  because  there  ought  to  be  certainty  in 
a  decision  of  such  importance,  but  also  because  doubt  im- 
plies either  the  defect  of  .  evidence  even  regarding  one 
with  whom  you  live,  or  an  adverse  reason  which  you  can- 
not analyze. 


22 


The  Conventual  Life 


A  great  founder  of  the  Religious  life,  St.  Columbanus, 
has  said  that  "  he  who  takes  away  your  freedom  takes 
away  your  dignity.''  A  more  recent  founder  of  a  Re- 
ligious Order  has  left  it  as  a  precept  to  his  spiritual  chil- 
dren that  they  should  do  all  their  actions  in  the  spirit 
of  intelligence  and  freedom."  Freedom  is  no  stranger  to 
convents.  A  nun  is  not  a  slave,  nor  is  obedience  an  act 
of  slavery;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  intelligent,  dignified,  and 
free. 

Freedom  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  outward  dispositions 
or  conditions  whatever;  it  is  an  inward  power,  a  spon- 
taneous motion,  a  great  moral  quality,  a  vital  force  orig- 
inating action  from  within  us,  the  source  and  first  prin- 
ciple of  all  responsibility,  acting  in  the  light  of  intelli- 
gence, from  a  motive  of  good,  and  for  a  worthy  end. 
This  at  all  events  is  the  ideal  of  perfect  liberty ;  by  it  we 
control  ourselves,  and  hold  ourselves  back  from  the  in- 
sinuations of  error  and  the  assaults  of  passion ;  with  it  we 
ascend  above  ourselves  into  the  expansive  regions  of 
truth,  of  order,  and  of  goodness. 

To  be  able  to  run  into  error,  to  sink  into  weakness, 
or  to  commit  sin,  are  not  among  the  indispensable  condi- 
tions of  freedom,  or  else  God  would  not  be  the  freest  of 
all  beings.  A  truthless,  lawless,  godless  life  is  not  free- 
dom ;  it  is  the  very  reverse  of  freedom,  for  here  the  will 
blindly  puts  itself  into  bondage.  How,  then,  shall  we 
define  freedom?  Cicero  tells  us  that  liberty  consists  in 
being  the  servant  of  law.  And  this  heathen  philosopher 
only  anticipates  the  doctrine  of  St.  Paul,  who  expresses 
the  same  idea  in  these  forcible  words :  Know  ye  not 
that  to  whom  ye  yield  yourselves  as  servants  to  obey,  ye 
are  servants  of  him  whom  ye  obey,  whether  it  be  of  sin 
unto  death,  or  of  obedience  unto  justice.  But  thanks 
to  God  that  ye  were  servants  of  sin,  but  ye  have  obeyed 
from  the  heart,  unto  that  form  of  doctrine  in  which  ye 


Tlic  Conventual  Life, 


23 


have  been  instructed.  Being  then  freed  from  sin,  ye  be- 
came servants  of  justice."  Here  the  Apostle  would  have 
us  to  comprehend  that  it  is  through  our  becoming  the 
hearty  and  obedient  servants  of  justice,  in  other  words, 
of  truth  and  law,  that  we  are  set  free  from  the  slavery 
of  sin.  In  like  manner  St.  Paul  tells  the  Corinthians  that 
the  slave  is  made  free  in  Christ,  and  that  the  freeman  is 
the  servant  of  Christ.  To  be  free,  then,  is  to  be  the 
servant  of  truth,  to  be  the  subject  of  law,  to  obey  the 
voice  of  justice.  As  Balmez  observes,  Liberty  of  mind 
consists  in  being  the  servant  of  truth,  and  liberty  of  will 
in  being  the  servant  of  virtue;  if  you  change  this,  you 
destroy  liberty.  Take  away  law,  and  you  admit  force ; 
take  away  truth,  and  you  admit  error;  take  away  virtue, 
and  you  admit  vice.''  Freedom,  then,  only  makes  us  free 
when  it  makes  us  obedient  to  truth,  to  law,  or  to  virtue. 
And  it  follows  that  the  most  perfect  freedom  is  that 
which  lights  us  on  through  the  highest  truth  to  obey 
the  highest  law  for  the  noblest  end.  In  other  words,  that 
soul  is  the  freest  which  is  the  most  perfectly  obedient  to 
the  word  and  wisdom  of  God  from  the  motive  of  the 
perfect  love  of  God.  This  at  once  transfers  the  soul  into 
a  vast  region  of  beauty,  light  and  truth,  where  she  ranges 
free  and  unconfined. 

But  the  soul's  freedom  has  another  office  nearer  home, 
and  that  lies  in  resisting  its  adversaries,  of  which  the 
chief  are  our  inferior  appetites,  our  blinding  passions, 
and  distracting  tempers — above  all,  our  pride,  egotism, 
and  selfishness.  Control  over  self,  with  resistance  to 
these  adversaries — in  other  words,  the  exercise  of  •self- 
humiliation  and  of  self-denial  are  amongst  the  most  gen- 
uine acts  of  freedom,  and  amongst  the  most  efficacious 
means  for  reaching  greater  freedom  of  soul.  Freedom 
as  a  habit  is  won  through  the  way  of  the  voluntary  cross. 

Our  Lord  has  said,    If  you  know  the  truth,  the  truth 


TJic  Conventual  Life 


will  make  you  free."  He  is  Himself  the  liberating  Truth. 
Again  He  says:  ''If  the  Son  make  you  free  then  are 
you  free  indeed.''  These  are  no  figures  of  speech;  they 
express  great  and  practical  facts.  When  St.  Paul  looks 
down  upon  the  appetites  warring  in  his  members  against 
the  law  of  his  mind,  he  calls  them  the  body  of  death, 
and  cries  out  for  a  deliverer,  and  he  finds  a  deliverer  in 
"  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  From  what  does 
that  grace  deliver  us?  From  ourselves,  from  our  own 
spirit  as  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  God.  But  where  the 
spirit  of  God  is,  there  is  liberty."  Deeper  than  all  other 
obstacles  to  this  liberating  spirit  works  within  us  that 
pride  of  life,  that  rooted,  all  absorbing  egotism,  which 
nothing  will  loosen  save  our  subjecting  ourselves  from 
our  very  centre  to  God,  and  the  surrendering  ourselves 
to  a  law  of  obedience,  of  which  the  divine  'will  is  both  the 
informing  principle  and  the  final  motive.  This  is  what 
St.  Paul  calls  the  being  "  delivered  unto  the  perfect  law 
of  liberty." 

It  follow^s  from  all  have  said  that  liberty  is  in- 
separable from  law,  and  freedom  from  truth,  and  that 
the  link  which  unites  them  in  the  human  soul  is  the  ready 
obedience  and  voluntary  submission  of  that  soul  to  what- 
ever the  wMsdom  of  God  prescribes  and  regulates  for 
the  perfecting  of  our  spiritual  nature.  And  it  no  less 
follows  that  the  most  perfect  obedience  rendered  to  the 
highest  law  of  Christian  perfection,  to  that  law  which 
gives  us  command  both  of  ourselves  and  of  special  favor 
w^ith  God,  is  the  straight  and  sure  way  of  liberty.  The 
habit  of  obeying  intelligently,  heartily,  and  of  good  con- 
science, is  of  all  ways  the  most  efficacious  for  develop- 
ing the  energetic  power  of  the  will,  in  making  it  ever 
prompt  and  answerable  to  our  call.  And  a  vigorous  and 
responsible  will  makes  a  cheerful  and  happy  spirit.  It 
is  this  habit  of  obedience  which  forms  the  free  and  ener- 


The  CoHzrntual  Life 


25 


getic  character  of  the  seaman ;  while  maintained  in  the 
face  of  peril,  it  gives  dignity  to  the  soldier ;  men  grow  into 
heroes  by  sacrificing  themselves  in  obedience  to  principle. 
Without  obedience  to  something  higher  than  ourselves, 
nothing  is  ennobled  in  this  w^orld.  The  artist  is  free  of 
his  art  by  subjecting  himself  to  its  laws ;  the  man  of 
science  by  humbling  his  intelligence  to  the  conditions  of 
his  science;  the  inventor  succeeds  by  tying  himself  dowm 
to  the  facts  by  which  his  conjectures  are  brought  to  the 
test.  The  nun  has  set  herself  to  gain  the  art  and  science 
of  spiritual  ]:)erfection,  of  forming  her  soul  upon  the 
model  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  and  the  more  completely  she 
obeys  the  law  of  His  example  the  more  free  she  will  be 
in  her  own  soul,  the  more  free  also  in  Him  whose  life 
and  example  she  is  following.  Obedience  is  not  forced, 
but  given  willingly ;  and,  as  it  is  said  by  an  Abbot  of  the 
eighth  century,  Freedom  is  not  given  up  because  hu- 
mility freely  bows  its  head." 

But  there  is  another  condition  that  is  a  most  im- 
portant aid  to  the  force  of  freedom,  and  without  which 
the  strongest  will  is  weakened  and  wasted ;  and  that  is  the 
limitation  of  its  sphere  of  activity.  The  created  will 
must  have  a  line  and  a  limit ;  without  that  it  is  uncertain 
and  bewildered,  or,  at  all  events,  its  powers  are  en- 
feebled and  divided.  It  is  by  force  of  the  limitation 
and  concentration  of  light  that  the  telescope  gains  its 
power  of  searching  the  distant  heavens.  It  is  by  limit 
and  concentration  that  steam  puts  forth  its  irresistible 
strength.  Bossuet  gives  us  another  illustration.  He  com- 
pares the  free  force  of  the  human  soul  to  a  river.  If 
left  to  wander  at  its  own  unlimited  will,  it  will  overflow 
a  country  and  become  a  shallow,  stagnant,  pestilential 
marsh;  but  let  it  have  banks  for  its  limitation  on  this 
side  and  on  that,  and  it  becomes  that  clear,  deep,  energetic 
stream  of  waters  flowing  on  with  irresistible  freedom 


26 


The  Conventual  Life 


until  it  rejoins  its  parent  ocean.  So  is  it  with  the  mind, 
so  with  the  will ;  they  are  free  in  their  labors  and  strong 
in  their  freedom,  and  they  make  us  strong  and  free  in 
proportion  to  the  judiciousness  of  the  limitations  which 
we  set  round  their  exercise.  And  this  is  precisely  what  is 
done  in  the  religious  life.  The  Rule  and  the  authority  of 
superiors  mark  out  the  sphere  of  each  one's  duty  and 
activity;  and  the  subject  fills  up  that  sphere  of  duty 
traced  by  the  voice  of  authority  with  her  own  intelligence 
and  judgment.  One  nun  is  appointed  to  sing  the  anti- 
phons  in  choir ;  another  is  set  to  teach  a  class  in  the  pen- 
sion school ;  a  third  is  sent  out  to  visit  the  sick  poor ;  a 
fourth  has  the  charge  of  patients  in  the  hospital;  a  fifth 
is  set  down  to  the  embroidery  of  a  vestment ;  a  sixth  is 
appointed  to  superintend  the  domestic  department; 
thus  each  one  is  set  to  a  sphere,  and  one  for  which  she 
is  adapted.  Authority  draws  out  the  lines  of  duty 
for  obedience  to  accomplish,  and  freedom  fills  them  up. 
This  gives  that  vigor  to  the  character  of  well-trained  nuns 
which  led  Count  de  Montalembert  to  say  that  "  strength, 
veiled  by  gentleness,  is  the  breath  of  their  life.'' 

And  here  we  must  again  turn  to  the  character  and 
example  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  Who  is  the  perfect  model 
of  this  way  of  life.  From  His  birth  in  the  manger  to 
His  death  on  the  Cross  His  life  was  one  unbroken  act 
of  obedience,  and  obedience  under  vow.  He  "  offered 
Himself  once  for  all,"  and  was  offered  because  He 
willed  it,"  and  the  words  of  the  vow  by  which  He  offered 
Himself  St.  Paul  has  put  on  record  (Heb.  x.).  He  says: 
"  Coming  into  the  world,  He  saith :  Sacrifice  and  oblation 
Thou  wouldst  not  have,  but  Thou  hast  fitted  to  Me  a 
body.  Holocausts  for  sin  did  not  please  Thee.  Then  I 
said :    Behold  I  come :   at  the  head  of  the  book  it  is 

written  of  Me,  to  do  Thy  will,  O  God  Then  I  said: 

Behold  I  come,  to  do  Thy  will,  O  God."    Entering  into 


The  Conventual  Life 


27 


the  world  He  vowed  that  obedience  which  He  consum- 
mated on  the  Cross.  From  His  twelfth  to  His  thirtieth 
year  the  record  of  His  life  is  summed  up  in  these  words : 
''And  He  went  with  them  [Mary  and  Joseph]  and  came 
to  Nazareth :  and  He  was  subject  to  them/'  After  He 
had  passed  from  the  condition  of  a  working  man  to  ful- 
fill His  mission  to  the  world,  He  said :  "  I  came  not  to  do 
My  own  will,  but  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  Me."  And 
to  show  that  His  Father's  will  was  the  Rule  which  He 
obeyed,  He  also  said:  "  I  do  nothing  of  Myself.  What 
I  see  My  Father  doing,  that  do  I."  And  so  He  was 
made  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  Cross ; 
wherefore  God  hath  exalted  Him,  and  given  Him  a  Name 
which  is  above  all  names."  Yet  this  obedience,  this  obla- 
tion of  obedience,  was  the  fruit  of  the  most  perfect  free- 
dom. He  freely  offered  Himself,  He  held  free  com- 
mand over  the  inferior  passions  and  sorrows  of  His 
human  nature.  In  the  midst  of  that  nature's  agony  He 
exclaimed :  "  Not  My  will  but  Thine  be  done."  He 
was  even  free  amongst  the  dead."  There  is  nothing  left 
after  this  but  to  accept  the  truth  that  obedience  to  the 
holy  will  of  God  is  the  perfecting  of  humanity,  even  the 
perfecting  of  human  freedom.  The  very  reward  of 
our  Lord's  humble,  chaste,  and  self-denied  life  on  earth, 
the  exaltation  of  His  humanity  to  the  right  hand  of  God, 
His  powder  also  over  the  world,  is  ascribed  to  His  obedi- 
ence. 

From  begining  to  end,  and  from  superiors  to  subjects, 
the  work  of  conventual  life  is  the  work  of  obedience  to 
the  will  of  God.  In  the  words  of  the  Rule,  in  the  cus- 
toms of  the  community,  in  the  ordering  of  the  day,  in 
the  sound  of  the  bell,  in  the  voice  of  superiors,  in  the 
ordinations  of  Providence,  bring  they  toil  or  rest,  conso- 
lation or  suffering,  at  all  times,  in  all  things,  the  nun  sees, 
the  nun  hears,  the  nun  loves  to  accept  and  obey  the  holy 


28 


The  Conventual  Life 


will  of  God.  Everywhere  the  will  of  God  meets  her, 
everywhere  she  meets  the  will  of  God,  and  that  with  this 
sense  of  Christ  within  her  heart :  I  came  not  to  do  my 
own  will,  but  the  will  of  God  who  sent  me/'  It  is  this 
which  makes  her  life  unselfish,  and,  therefore,  easy, 
sweet,  and  vigorous. 

The  privacy  and  seclusion  of  the  domestic  circle  loosens 
the  mind  from  its  trammels  of  caution,  and  sets  free  the 
heart  to  flow  at  its  sweet  will.  He  who  is  free  of  the 
family  has  only  to  enter  within  its  precincts  to  find  him- 
self disencumbered  of  fatiguing  self-guardedness  and  hu- 
man respect.  God  has  placed  no  creature  of  a  high  tem- 
perament in  an  atmosphere  much  lower  than  its  own 
without  providing  it  with  an  ample  defence.  The  alba- 
tross is  protected  by  its  wealth  of  feathers,  and  the  er- 
mine by  its  beautiful  fur.  The  tone  and  constitutional 
temperament  of  those  who  are  consecrated  to  God  is 
much  higher  than  that  which  is  prevalent  in  the  world, 
and  hence  the  need  of  some  providential  protection  for 
the  one  against  the  other.  But  why  should  the  world 
be  angry  at  the  isolation  of  that  which  belongs  not  to  it? 
Why  should  the  world  refuse  to  tolerate  the  little  spot 
here  and  there  that  He  who  created  the  earth  may  keep, 
and  within  the  limits  of  which  all  may  be  devoted  to  Him? 
In  its  proudly  insisting  that  all  should  have  their  rights, 
why  will  the  world  yield  no  exclusive  right's  to  God,  or  to 
God's  servants?  The  real  object  contemplated  in  the 
walls  that  protect  a  convent  is  not  to  imprison  the  nuns, 
but  to  shut  out  the  world.  There  is  nothing  so  easy  as  to 
get  into  a  prison,  yet  nothing  so  difficult  as  to  get  out  of  it 
again.  In  a  convent,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  so  very  diffi- 
cult to  find  a  way  inside,  but  so  very  easy  for  anyone 
who  is  inside  to  find  the  way  out.  And  the  reason  of  this 
is,  that  everything  is  regulated  with  a  view  to  exclude  the 
world,  but  not  with  a  view  to  imprison  the  nun.    In  no 


The  Conventual  Life 


29 


unkindness  to  the  world  or  to  its  children,  with  many 
prayers  for  its  amelioration,  bidding  it  farewell,  with 
gratitude  for  the  good  and  pardon  for  the  evil  it  may  have 
done  them,  with  great  good  humor  the  nuns  draw  a  wall 
round  the  world  and  put  it  in  prison,  thanking  God  for 
the  little  plot  of  earth  where  they  are  left  free  and  in 
peace,  there  to  live  under  a  holier  law,  there  from  that 
resting  point  to  contemplate  and  move  the  heavens. 

Convents  are  divisible  into  two  classes :  those  of  the 
Contemplative  and  those  of  the  Active  Orders.  The 
chief  object  of  the  Contemplative  Orders  is  prayer,  whilst 
the  object  of  the  Active  Orders  is  to  combine  prayer  with 
works  of  charity  and  benevolence.  Some  are  disposed  to 
accept  the  Active  Orders  as  w^orthy  their  commendation, 
whilst  they  reserve  their  reprobation  for  the  Contempla- 
tive Orders.  But  this  is  narrow,  illiberal,  and  in  direct 
opposition  to  the  spirit  of  freedom.  Such  persons  do  not 
give  themselves  the  trouble  to  understand  that  all  spirits 
and  all  attractions  are  not  the  same,  and  that  every  spirit 
must  praise  God  after  its  own  way.  The  votaries  of  art 
and  of  practical  life  would  find  themselves  badly  oflf  with- 
out the  votaries  of  science.  One  contemplates  the 
heavens,  that  another  may  cross  the  seas  with  safety. 
The  maxims  and  the  rules  which  sustain  the  spirit  of 
the  Sister  of  Charity  are  drawn  from  the  great  lights  of 
the  Contemplative  Orders.  The  hosts  of  Israel,  headed 
by  the  valiant  Josue,  confronted  the  enemy  in  fight  upon 
the  plain ;  but  it  was  Moses  lifting  his  hands  to  heaven 
on  the  mountain  top  who  gained  the  victory.  If  it  be  a 
great  mercy  to  help  the  world  in  its  distresses  by  our 
labors,  it  is  as  great  a  mercy  to  move  the  powers  of 
lieaven  to  succor  the  same  world.  And  for  that  end  the 
prayer  of  the  just  availeth  much,  as  the  Scripture  tells 
us.  Is  it  nothing  in  a  world  where  God  is  neglected  as 
in  ours,  that  amongst  the  divisions  of  labor  there  should 


30 


The  Conventual  Life 


be  a  class  who  neglect  the  world,  in  order  to  supply  more 
perfectly  for  the  world's  neglect  of  God? 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  attributes  of  the  nun  is  her 
maternal  character — wherever  a  mother  is  wanted  by 
distressed  and  bereaved  humanity,  there  she  steps  in  as  a 
mother  sent  from  God.  Childhood,  youth,  maturity,  and 
age  all  find  a  mother  in  their  hour  of  need  in  her.  She 
who  has  given  up  the  function  of  natural  motherhood 
has  her  hundredfold  in  the  function  of  spiritual  mother- 
hood; without  children  of  her  own  on  earth,  she  claims 
many  children  of  her  own  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
The  very  presence  of  virgins  consecrated  to  Christ 
breathes  a  purity,  inspires  a  modesty,  and  impresses  the 
mind  of  their  sex  with  a  sense  of  the  sanctity  of  this 
virtue,  which  exercises  a  great  influence  upon  the  general 
purity  of  woman:  and  in  contemplating  their  spiritual 
maternity,  and  their  holy  influence  upon  the  matronage 
of  the  world,  we  may  well  see  in  them  the  singular  reali- 
zation of  the  prophecy  of  Isaias  :  Rejoice,  O  thou  barren 
who  bearest  not;  sing  forth  praise,  and  make  a  joyful 
noise,  thou  that  didst  not  travail  with  child :  for  many 
more  are  the  children  of  the  desolate  than  of  her  that 
hath  a  husband,  saith  the  Lord." 

The  occupations  that  fill  up  the  day  in  a  community 
of  Religious  women  are  of  two  kinds:  first,  there  are 
the  various  religious  exercises,  consisting  of  the  reci- 
tation of  the  Divine  Ofifice  in  choir,  meditation,  and 
spiritual  reading;  and  there  are  the  active  duties,  either 
of  charity  or  of  necessary  household  cares.  The  larger 
portion  of  time  given  in  all  communities  to  prayer  falls 
in  the  early  morning  hours,  and  towards  the  latter  part 
of  the  day,  leaving  a  considerable  portion  of  the  day  free 
for  work.  Even  in  enclosed  Orders  which  do  not  devote 
themselves  to  teaching  or  the  care  of  the  poor,  active  oc- 
cupations of  one  sort  or  another  fall  to  the  share  of  each 


The  Conventual  Life 


3T 


niLMiibcr  of  the  coninninil\ .  A  large  convent  makes  a 
great  deal  of  work  in  itself,  independently  of  the  insti- 
tutions that  may  be  attached  to  it.  As  it  is  the  aim  of 
Religious  women  to  have  as  little  intercourse  with  the 
world  as  possible,  they  endeavor  to  supply  as  many  of 
their  wants  as  they  can  by  means  of  their  own  labor, 
and  thus  a  great  variety  of  employments  is  undertaken 
by  them,  which  not  only  affords  a  useful  occupation  of 
time  but  is  also  a  source  of  interest  and  recreation,  and 
often  calls  forth  abilities  that  would  have  lain  dormant 
in  the  w^orld. 

The  prevailing  spirit  of  a  community  thus  variously 
employed  is  undoubtedly  one  of  cheerfulness.  This  spirit 
is  cherished  by  many  provisions  of  the  Rule,  particularly 
that  which  alternates  the  different  exercises  of  prayer, 
w^ork,  and  recreation  in  judicious  proportions.  The 
time-table  may  differ  in  different  convents,  but  in  all  the 
principle  is  established  of  making  work  succeed  to  prayer, 
and  recreation  to  w^ork.  The  long  attendance  in  choir 
which  no  doubt  appears  excessive  to  some  critics,  occupy- 
ing in  some  communities  five,  in  others  six,  and  in  others 
even  eight  hours  a  day,  is  felt  to  be  a  source  of  delight 
to  those  who  find  in  it  their  spiritual  refreshment,  and 
who  come  to  it  from  active  labors.  Manual  labor  often 
interferes  to  prevent  the  head  from  being  weakened 
and  exhausted  wath  mental  labor.  The  necessity  im- 
posed by  the  Religious  rule  of  breaking  off  any  occupa- 
tion at  appointed  signals  and  exchanging  it  for  the  par- 
ticular community  exercise  which  has  next  to  be  fulfilled, 
proves  by  experience  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  safe- 
guards of  health  and  cheerfulness. 

It  is  also  proper  to  observe  that  in  every  Religious 
community  certain  hours  are  set  apart,  generally  twice  in 
the  day,  for  all  the  members  to  assemble  for  recreation  in 
common.    At  these  times  Religious  women  are  accus- 


32 


The  Conventual  Life 


tomed  to  entertain  themselves  and  one  another,  either  in 
or  out  of  doors,  as  other  intelHgent  women  may  be  sup- 
l)osed  to  do,  that  is  to  say,  by  conversation,  reading  aloud, 
or  the  like.  In  the  history  of  St.  Jane  Frances  de  Chan- 
tal  many  Charming  notices  are  to  be  found  of  the  recre- 
ation of  the  nun^  of  the  Visitation  Order,  in  w^hich  we  see 
the  pleasant  gaiety,  tempered  always  by  a  religious  spirit, 
which  prevailed  among  them ;  and  in  which  some,  who 
had  formerly  figured  as  great  ladies  in  the  world,  em- 
ployed their  talents  in  composing  spiritual  songs  which 
they  and  their  sisters  sang  at  such  times,  or  in  other 
innocent  and  suitable  diversions. 

To  conclude  with  the  well-weighted  words  of  the 
Count  de  Montalembert :  ''It  is  the  special  attribute  of 
monastic  life  to  transfigure  human  nature,  by  giving  the 
soul  that  which  is  almost  always  wanting  to  it  in  ordinary 
existence.  It  inspires  the  young  virgin  with  an  element 
of  manfulness  which  withdraws  her  from  the  weaknesses 
of  nature,  and  makes  her  at  the  necessary  moment  a 
heroine;  but  a  soft  and  tender  heroine,  rising  from  the 
depths  of  humility,  obedience,  and  love,  to  reach  the 
height  of  the  most  generous  flights,  and  to  obtain  every- 
thing that  is  most  powerful  and  enlightening  in  human 
courage.  Sometimes  it  adds,  by  a  supernatural  gift,  the 
incomparable  charm  of  childhood,  with  its  artless  and 
endearing  candor;  and  there  may  be  seen  upon  a  living 
countenance  that  simplicity  in  beauty,  that,  serenity  in 
strength,  which  are  the  most  lovely  array  of  genius  and 
virtue.  Thus  it  happens  by  times  that  all  that  is  most 
grand  and  pure  in  the  dififerent  types  of  humanity — the 
man,  the  woman,  and  the  child — is  found  combined  in 
one  single  being,  which  accomplishes  all  that  a  soul  can 
do  here  belov/  to  rise  from  its  fall,  and  render  itself 
worthy  of  the  God  Who  has  created  and  saved  it." 


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